more crafting

check this out ... how to make your own ceramic transfers ...

paper

Thursday Printday was a bit of an adventure for me this week ... as I tried out paper screen printing for the first time. I've had a few people asking me for paper printed artwork so I thought I'd leap in and give it a go.

Its a suprisingly different process to fabric screen printing. The main differences being that the screen is suspended above the paper, the screen mesh is much smaller and the screen is filled with ink (flooded) before you actually print. So it was a little awkward at first for a textile printer ... but it didn't take long to get the hang of once I'd go my head around it.

You're only getting a sneaky snippet of a look at the design ... just a morsel ... someday soon I'll show you the whole thing.

camera love

So here are my first product shots. I am exceedingly proud of my efforts ... mostly because taking these required a lot of effort. I think I could probably do better, but its a good start me thinks.



It seems that the love I have for my Canon 350D camera has been a very superficial one. Yesterday we did a little bonding with the help of the manual and this guys tutorial/rant/waffle about taking product shots.



Please note ... I found it necessary to copy this tutorial/rant/waffle into Word and delete all the many unnecessary paragraphs of information. Leaving me with the following necessary and very useful points for taking product photos:

Use a small aperture (which on my camera means big numbers (f stops))

Use reflected sunlight preferably on an overcast day

Small apertures require long shutter speeds, so use the timer on you camera and mount you camera in a steady place (I don't have a tripod).

Use the long exposure noise reduction function (My 350D has this function)

Use the white balance correction function (Yes, ol' 350D has this one too)



So I went out into the garden and set up the most hilarious studio with 4 pieces of mount card. Took a whole lot of pictures ... played around in photoshop ... and voila ... I have a set of clear pretty images. But they could be clearer I think ... perhaps I need 'proper lights'?

It took the majority of the day to produce these, but I am delighted with my new found knowledge ... and even more infatuated with my lovely Canon.

show's over

I had great fun at the trade show earlier this week. I thought I would hate having to sell my work ... turns out you couldn't shut me up! It was great meeting the many many interesting people that came through. Will let you know who'll be stocking my wares in about a months time.


Being Thursday Printday yesterday ... I went to the ELP studios to get my print fix. I set up a few screens for a printing session early next week. Stand by for printed teatowels.